''Words'' is a song by the

Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era in ...

, written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb. The song reached No. 1 in Germany, Canada, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. "Words" was the Bee Gees third UK top 10 hit, reaching number 8, and in a UK television special on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

in December 2011 it was voted fourth in "The Nation's Favourite Bee Gees Song". The song has been recorded by many other artists, including hit versions by

Rita Coolidge Rita Coolidge (born May 1, 1945) is an American recording artist. During the 1970s and 1980s, her songs were on '' Billboard'' magazine's pop, country, adult contemporary, and jazz charts, and she won two Grammy Awards with fellow musician and t ...

in 1978 and

Boyzone Boyzone were an Irish boy band, created in 1993 by talent manager Louis Walsh. Before even recording any material, Boyzone made an appearance on RTÉ's '' The Late Late Show''. Their most successful line-up was composed of Keith Duffy, Steph ...

in 1996. This was Boyzone's fifth single and their first number-one hit in the UK.

Writing

Barry Gibb explains:

Robin Gibb Robin Hugh Gibb (22 December 1949 – 20 May 2012) was a British singer and songwriter. He gained worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees pop group with elder brother Barry and fraternal twin brother Maurice. Robin Gibb also had his o ...

: Barry said in 1996 on the

VH1 Storytellers ''Storytellers'' is a television music series produced by the VH1 network. In each episode, artists perform in front of a (mostly small and intimate) live audience, and tell stories about their music, writing experiences and memories, somewhat ...

television show that it was written for their manager,

Robert Stigwood Robert Colin Stigwood (16 April 1934 – 4 January 2016) was an Australian-born British-resident music entrepreneur, film producer and impresario, best known for managing Cream (band), Cream, Andy Gibb and the Bee Gees, theatrical productions ...

Recording

''Words'' was recorded on 3 October 1967 along with "

World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

" and the unreleased track "Maccleby's Secret" at the

IBC Studios The IBC Recording Studios were independent recording studios located at 35 Portland Place in London, England. In the 1960s and 1970s, the studios become internationally famous after being used by recording artists like the Kinks, the Who, Bee Gee ...

in London. The song featured vocals from only Barry and became his solo spot in concert for the remainder of the Bee Gees' career. The recording sessions for "Words" were especially memorable for two members of the group, Barry explained:

"I remember the
irst An infrared search and track (IRST) system (sometimes known as infrared sighting and tracking) is a method for detecting and tracking objects which give off infrared radiation, such as the infrared signatures of jet aircraft and helicopters. IR ...
session so clearly. Robin and I were in the studios at 9 o'clock in the morning, and Robin kept on falling asleep over the piano. I wanted him to write the piano part of the song and play it because I'm not much of a pianist, but he just couldn't keep his eyes open, so I ended up doing it myself".

"Words" was also the showcase for a new piano sound, as Maurice explained:

"We accidentally discovered the sound on 'Words'. When we were recording t after everyone had gone to lunch, I was sitting at the piano mucking about and I wrote a riff. I went upstairs and switched on the mike for the piano, and then I started playing about with the knobs in front of me. When I played the tape back, I had all these incredible compressed piano noises. Mike Claydon at IBC Studios, who engineered all our records, then said 'What the hell was that?' when he heard the piano sound. 'Come up here and listen to that sound'. It was just compression, but he didn't know what to call it then. I think he called it 'limited'. It made the piano sound like it was about 40 pianos playing at the same time and very, very thick. In 'Words' it was very beautiful but that sound on it made it sound like the
LA Symphony L.A. Symphony is an independent hip hop group from Los Angeles, California. Current members of L.A. Symphony are FLYNN (also known as Flynn Adam), UNO Mas, CookBook, Joey the Jerk (formerly Joey's Dream), Sareem Poems (fka Sharlock Poems), Pige ...
on it. If you listen to all our records, the piano sound is on it.

According to sound engineer Damon Lyon-Shaw:

"I was the one that actually devised it, Mike Claydon was the one who took the credit for it, but i was actually piddling around at the time as his junior. On the mixer at the time, we had compressors, Maurice was playing at piano at the time, just piddling around ndI started feeding the piano into a series of these compressors and then screwed them up until he got his lovely metallic sort of sucking sound, and that was the birth of that sound, Maurice, assumed it was Michael, so he took the credits.

Another sound engineer

John Pantry John Pantry (born 10 October 1946) is a musician, singer, songwriter, audio engineer (at IBC Studios, for the Small Faces and on the first three Bee Gees L.P.s) and record producer from Harrow, Middlesex, England. He's been active since the la ...

offered to put things in a proper perspective:

"Well, Damon didn't make the compressor/limiter, and my memory is that we all used to use that sound once we discovered what it did to piano notes. As to who got there first is open to debate. The sound was unique because it was a home-made device that was made by a guy called
Denis King Denis Andrew King (born 25 July 1939) is an English composer and singer. He is best remembered as a member of a family ensemble, The King Brothers. Early career: the King Brothers King was born in Hornchurch, Essex, England. He began his mus ...
".

Release

The B-side for "Words" was " Sinking Ships", one of very few songs by the Bee Gees to feature all three brothers on lead vocals: Barry and Robin Gibb in the verses and Maurice Gibb on the song's chorus. The group performed this song on ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television program, television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in Septembe ...

'' in 1968, with Barry Gibb on vocals, Maurice Gibb on bass, Robin Gibb on piano,

Vince Vince is a given name, it is the anglicisation and shortened form of the name Vincent, as well as a surname. It may refer to: Given name People * Vince Agnew (born 1987), American football player * Vince Cable (born 1943), British politician ...

on guitar and Colin on drums. On that performance Vince is playing

Gibson ES-335 The Gibson ES-335 is the world's first commercial semi-hollowbody electric guitar, sometimes known as semi-acoustic. Released by the Gibson Guitar Corporation as part of its ES (Electric Spanish) series in 1958, it is neither fully hollow nor fu ...

, and Maurice is playing

Rickenbacker 4001 The Rickenbacker 4001 is an electric bass that was manufactured by Rickenbacker as a two- pickup "deluxe" version of their first production bass, the single-pickup model 4000. This design, created by Roger Rossmeisl, was manufactured between 1 ...

. Some backing vocals near the end are heard only on the mono mix used on the single, some compilations, and the ''Studio Albums 1967–1968'' box set. Mixes for "Words" suffered many different problems. Since it was originally used only as a single, no stereo mix was made until

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

wanted one for the ''

Best of Bee Gees ''Best of Bee Gees'' is a 1969 compilation album by the English-Australian rock band Bee Gees. It was their first international greatest hits album. It featured their singles from 1966-1969 with the exception of the band's 1968 single "Jumbo". ...

'' album in 1969, where it made its first appearance on LP. A stereo mix with the piano, bass and drums mixed down and the vocals pushed forward was made, which fans were dissatisfied with. Polydor in the UK instead chose to use the mono mix on their version of the album. In 1990,

Bill Inglot Bill Inglot is an American music engineer and producer, best known for remastering older recordings to high quality digital standards. Inglot worked for Rhino Entertainment and other Warner Music Group labels from 1982 to 2007. He was largely re ...

prepared an improved stereo mix. While doing so, he noticed that two short sections of backing vocal near the end of the song were on the mono mix but not on the four-track master, as if Barry added them while the mono mix was made. ''The Studio Albums 1967–1968'' used the original mono mix. As stated on the original single release, the song was featured in the film ''The Mini Mob'' (1968), where it was sung by

Georgie Fame Georgie Fame (born Clive Powell; 26 June 1943) is an English R&B and jazz musician. Fame, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still performing, often working with contemporaries such as Alan Price, Van Morrison and Bill Wyman. Fame is the on ...

in an arrangement by Bill Shepherd. "Words" debuted at No. 67 in '' Cashbox'' in the United States in the week of 20 January 1968. It was the Bee Gees' second UK Top 10 single after "

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

". ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' called it a "beautiful ballad line with a semi-soft, somewhat-rock sound obtained by the use of near classic piano, soaring strings and a pop percussion" and a "brilliant vocal lead."

Personnel

Barry Gibb Sir Barry Alan Crompton Gibb (born 1 September 1946) is a British musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He rose to worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees, one of the most commercially successful groups in the history of popul ...

– lead vocals, rhythm guitar *

Maurice Gibb Maurice Ernest Gibb (; 22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003) was a British musician. He achieved fame as a member of the pop group Bee Gees. Although his elder brother Barry Gibb and fraternal twin brother Robin Gibb were the group's main le ...

– bass, piano,

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...

– harmony vocals *

Vince Melouney Vincent Melouney (Maloney) (born 18 August 1945) is an Australian musician, singer and songwriter best known as an official member of The Bee Gees from 1967 to 1969 during the group’s initial period of worldwide success. Prior to joining Be ...

– rhythm guitar *

Colin Petersen Frederick Colin Petersen (born 24 March 1946) is an Australian drummer, record producer and former child actor. He played as a member of the bands Steve and the Board, the Bee Gees and Humpy Bong. In August 1969, he left the Bee Gees and he wa ...

– drums * Bill Shepherd – orchestral arrangement

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Boyzone version

Irish boyband

covered "Words" and released is as the lead single from their second studio album, '' A Different Beat'' (1996). The single was their seventh single overall, becoming their first number-one hit in the UK and earning a platinum certification from the

British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with th ...

Critical reception

British magazine ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' rated Boyzone's version of "Words" three out of five. The reviewer wrote, "Just when everyone has readied themselves for Boyzone's ascent to mega-stardom, they go and release their worst single to date. It will still be a massive hit, but this cover of

The Bee Gees ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

' 1968 hit is terribly uninspired."

Track listings

* UK CD1 # "Words" (radio edit) – 3:55 # "The Price of Love" – 3:11 # "Words" (alternative mix) – 3:53 * UK CD2 # "Words" (radio edit) – 3:55 # "The Price of Love" – 3:11 # "What Can You Do for Me" – 2:59 # "Words" (alternative mix) – 3:53 * UK cassette single # "Words" (radio edit) – 3:55 # "The Price of Love" – 3:11

Charts

Weekly charts Year-end charts

Certifications

Other versions

*2021:

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman, known primarily for her work in country music. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album d ...

recorded "Words" for Barry's 2021 album " Greenfields".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Words (Bee Gees Song) 1967 songs 1968 singles 1978 singles 1996 singles 2021 singles Atco Records singles Bee Gees songs Boyzone songs Dolly Parton songs Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Lill Lindfors songs Number-one singles in Germany Number-one singles in Scotland Number-one singles in Switzerland Polydor Records singles Rita Coolidge songs RPM Top Singles number-one singles Song recordings produced by Phil Harding (producer) Song recordings produced by Robert Stigwood Songs written by Barry Gibb Songs written by Maurice Gibb Songs written by Robin Gibb Susie Allanson songs UK Singles Chart number-one singles